Showing results by author "Geoffrey Schmitt" in All Categories

God’s Surprise Choices: Unlikely People in the Hands of God is a pastoral Bible study that explores one of the most consistent—and most encouraging—patterns in Scripture: God chooses the unlikely. From Moses the reluctant leader… to Gideon the least… to David and Peter in their failure… to Paul the persecutor… to Rahab and the Samaritan woman on the margins… to ordinary disciples, a small boy’s offering, and an unknown servant named Ananias… Again and again, God works through people who seem unqualified, unprepared, or overlooked. This study invites readers to see these ...

What do you do when God has spoken… but nothing seems to have happened yet? Anticipation: Living Between Promise and Fulfillment explores the space where much of the Christian life is actually lived—the space between what God has said and what God has not yet completed. Through Scripture, personal reflection, and practical application, this study traces anticipation across the whole story of the Bible: Abraham trusting a promise he could not see Joseph holding onto a dream in the darkness Israel crying out across generations The prophets speaking what was not yet visible Simeon and Anna...

What if everything you’ve been taught about success is wrong? In a world that measures success by achievement, recognition, and results, Success God’s Way: Faithfulness, Not Fame offers a deeply biblical and refreshingly honest alternative. Drawing from Scripture, real-life ministry, and decades of lived experience, Geoffrey Schmitt invites readers to rethink success through the lives of key biblical figures: Joshua — success begins with obedience Joseph — success is formed in hidden places David — success includes repentance, not perfection Solomon — success can become a trap ...

Pilgrimage: Walking with God through Life, Loss, and Sacred Places by Geoffrey Schmitt This book invites readers on a journey—not only across ancient trails and holy destinations, but into the deeper spiritual landscape of the soul. Blending biblical reflection, historical insight, personal storytelling, poetry, and guided questions, Pilgrimage explores both the metaphor and the practice of sacred journeying. Part One traces the inner path we walk as believers: from the initial call to follow, through wilderness and weeping, up mountaintops, and into a clearer sense of purpose. Part Two ...

Willpower Isn’t Enough explores why lasting spiritual change does not come through effort alone, but through the healing and re-ordering of desire. Drawing on Scripture, Augustine’s ordo amoris, recovery wisdom, prison ministry experience, and personal reflection, Geoff Schmitt invites readers into a gentler, deeper path of transformation—one rooted in love rather than control. This book is for anyone weary of striving, caught in compulsive patterns, or longing for a faith that heals rather than exhausts.

A Theology of Dying: Preparing for the Next Life Now is not a book about hospice procedures or end-of-life planning. It is a spiritual exploration of what it means to learn how to die before we die—so that death, when it comes, does not arrive as a stranger. Drawing on Scripture, pastoral ministry, prison outreach, hospice experience, and a lifetime of lived faith, Geoffrey Schmitt invites readers into the quiet, courageous work of surrender that shapes a faithful life. Each chapter explores a different form of “spiritual dying”: the death of ego, the release of control, the letting ...

Disappointment is a universal human experience. Dreams collapse. Plans change. Prayers seem unanswered. Doors close without explanation. At times life simply does not unfold the way we expected. In When Hope Hurts: A Biblical Guide to Disappointment and Trust, pastor and author Geoffrey Schmitt explores how faith can guide us through those difficult moments. Drawing from both Scripture and personal experience, this study shows that disappointment has been part of the journey for many of the Bible’s most faithful people. Naomi believed her life had become bitter. Joseph waited years in ...

Why did Jesus so often say, “Tell no one”? The Gospel of Mark — and other Gospel accounts — show a surprising pattern: demons silenced, healings hidden, confessions cautioned, and even mountaintop visions kept secret. This has long puzzled readers and theologians, who call it the Messianic Secret. In this study, Rev. Dr. Geoffrey Schmitt (Willingheart, God’s Peaceful Smithy) explores why Jesus concealed His identity until the Cross and Resurrection. Through Scripture, teaching, meditation, personal reflection, poetry, and prayer, this book uncovers the wisdom of God’s timing: ...

What does the Bible say about physical strength, discipline, and caring for the body? In Strong for the Journey: Stewarding the Body for the Pilgrim Path, Geoffrey Schmitt explores the often-overlooked relationship between faith and physical life. Drawing from Scripture, pastoral experience, and years of ministry, this study examines how the body fits into God’s design for the Christian life. The Bible frequently uses the language of athletes and pilgrims—running a race, fighting the good fight, walking the road of faith. These images remind us that discipleship involves endurance, ...

When God Is Silent is written for those who have prayed faithfully and found no answer—those for whom God’s absence feels more frightening than suffering itself. Rather than explaining silence away, this book explores how darkness, waiting, and unanswered prayer can become places of encounter rather than abandonment. Drawing from Scripture—Job’s unanswered questions, the unresolved lament of Psalm 88, Jesus’ silence in the wilderness, the cry from the cross, and the long waiting of Holy Saturday—this study traces a quiet, faithful path through the places where explanations fail....

In a divided and restless age, The Kingdom of Peace: Living as Christ’s Ambassadors calls believers to rediscover the lasting calm of Christ’s rule. Drawing from Scripture, personal reflection, and years of ministry experience, Geoffrey Schmitt (writing as Willingheart) shows how peace is both a gift from God and a mission for His people. From peace with God to peace in the world, each chapter unfolds like a pilgrimage — teaching us how to live as Christ’s representatives in every circumstance, how to stand firm under pressure, and how to let the fruit of peace transform our ...

Families are among the greatest blessings in life—and sometimes the greatest challenges. The Bible tells many family stories, and they are rarely simple. Brothers compete, parents struggle, children wander, and relationships become strained. Yet throughout these stories one truth continues to appear: God works through imperfect families to accomplish His purposes. Families in the Bible: Strengths, Conflicts, and the Ties That Bind explores twelve powerful biblical family stories, from the earliest households in Genesis to the teachings of Jesus and the birth of the Christian community. ...

The Church in the Making: From Pentecost’s Fire to Nicaea’s Creed traces the remarkable story of the early church’s transformation from a Spirit-empowered community in Jerusalem to a global faith with creeds, canon, and structure. Along the way, readers encounter courageous apostles, devoted martyrs, brilliant apologists, careful theologians, and passionate believers — all striving to define and defend the truth of the Gospel. Each chapter blends history, theology, personal reflection, meditation, a poem, questions for discussion, and prayer, making this study both informative and ...

Mystical Encounters in the Bible: A Journey into Visions, Dreams, and Divine Encounters By The Rev. Dr. Geoffrey Schmitt What happens when the veil between heaven and earth is pulled back? When angels speak, dreams guide, and the glory of God fills the room? In When Heaven Breaks Through, Rev. Dr. Geoffrey Schmitt invites you on a powerful and deeply reflective journey through the mystical encounters of the Bible—those breathtaking moments when God makes His presence known in visions, dreams, voices, and fire. From Jacob’s ladder to Ezekiel’s wheels, from Isaiah’s temple vision to ...

The Via Crucis: Walking the Pilgrim Path of Suffering, Love, and Redemption invites readers to walk prayerfully with Christ along the ancient path known as the Stations of the Cross. For centuries Christians have reflected on this sacred journey—from Jesus’ condemnation before Pilate to His burial in the tomb. Each station reveals not only the suffering of Christ but also the depth of God’s love for the world. In this thoughtful and deeply personal study, Geoffrey “Willingheart” Schmitt explores the fourteen stations through Scripture, theological reflection, psychology, pastoral ...

Armor of God: Standing Firm in a Spiritual Battle is a powerful and practical Bible study born from years of frontline ministry, especially within the Kairos Prison Ministry. Drawing from Ephesians 6:10–18, this study explores each piece of the spiritual armor God provides—truth, righteousness, peace, faith, salvation, the Word, and prayer—and helps readers understand how to wear them daily. With real-life stories, personal reflections, and biblical insights, Armor of God is more than a study—it’s a spiritual call to arms. Whether you face battles in the workplace, at home, in the...

Come, Let Us Reason Together: Discovering God’s Wisdom explores one of Scripture’s most profound invitations — to engage the mind and heart in conversation with God. From creation’s divine logic to Christ’s compassionate reasoning, from Paul’s persuasive faith to the humble wisdom of Job, this study traces the harmony between faith and thought across the pages of Scripture. Each chapter offers Scripture, reflection, poetry, and prayer to guide believers toward deeper understanding. Dr. Geoffrey G. Schmitt (“Willingheart”) invites readers to see that faith and reason are not ...

From Ashes to Alleluia: A Seven-Week Journey through Lent by Geoffrey Schmitt Lent begins in ashes — but it ends in light. In this seven-week devotional study, author and pastor Geoffrey Schmitt invites readers to walk the ancient road of Lent as a living journey of transformation. Each chapter combines Scripture, reflection, poem, prayer, and “Smithy’s Forge” meditation to guide the heart from repentance to resurrection. Week by week, readers move from humility to hope: Ashes — Remember you are dust, yet beloved dust. Wilderness — Tested and strengthened by grace. Crossroads ...

In a culture that prizes momentum, visibility, and constant motion, retreat often feels like failure. But Scripture tells another story. Retreats: Stepping Back to Move Forward explores the surprising truth that some of God’s greatest work happens in hidden places. From the Sabbath rest of creation to Moses in Midian, Elijah in the cave, David in the wilderness, Jesus in the desert, and Paul in Arabia, retreat appears not as defeat but as divine preparation. Drawing from biblical narrative, Kairos prison ministry, seasons of exhaustion, quiet mornings in Arkansas, and decades of pastoral ...

“Everything happens for a reason” is often spoken with kindness—but in the face of real suffering, it can ring hollow or even cause harm. Not Everything Happens for a Reason offers a more mature, faithful way to trust God when explanations fail. Drawing from Scripture, pastoral experience, prison ministry, recovery wisdom, and a lifetime of lived faith, Geoffrey Schmitt explores the difference between God’s will and God’s permission, the reality of human freedom, and the healing power of divine presence. Rather than presenting God as a controlling force behind every event, this ...